Suzi Q is a 2020 documentary about the American rock singer-songwriter, who helped redefine the role of women in rock ‘n’ roll when she broke out in 1973.
You might be forgiven for not knowing who the heck Suzi Quatro is, the entertainment industry once rocked by her explosive entry in rock & roll but lost in the shuffle as the years passed, even as she continues to take the stage, forty years on. With director Liam Firmager‘s heartfelt love letter to the pioneer of female rock stars, he aims to correct this oversight and makes sure she gets the recognition she deserves. And rightfully so.
Plopping the still very electric presence of Quatro in front of the camera for much of this, Firmager stays clear of being an obvious sycophant, instead, letting this profoundly deep and eye-opening exposé give Quatro’s story some impact. It jumps right in, with Suzi Q and her family, who were a significant part of her early journey, showing how evolution was the only way to survive, where their Detroit roots helped shape the rebellion.
We learn how she picked up the bass guitar very young and never looked back, eventually forming a band with her sisters, but was destined for bigger, soon making a traumatic decision to leave them behind and head across the Atlantic to Europe. There, she would redefine her image, dropping the satin costumes and side role for a jump to the center in her trademark catsuit leathers. She would rack up a string of hits and played to thousands in packed halls from Germany to Australia but would never make it big in the states, record companies uninterested. Even her brief casting on the hit show Happy Days and a Rolling Stone’s cover wouldn’t open the doors many hoped they would.
Either way, despite the setbacks in the states, her remarkable influence on rock, especially for women, is undeniable, her life changing forever as she empowered so many others to follow. To justify that, the film rolls out some big names, from Lita Ford, to Joan Jett, to Debbie Harry to Cherie Currie to many others, not to mention a slew of men, including Alice Cooper and Henry Winkler to express their adulation of Suzi Q’s tremendous contribution to music.
Suzi Q is a personal project, a host of people in the industry turning back the pages on a time when women weren’t really part of the rock & roll movement, she never looking to use that fame as a way to advance the cause, only wanting to take the stage and rock the house. But her strength was still felt. As one says in the film, she long ago transcended gender. She’s an icon. That’s pretty clear by the time the film wraps up, humanizing that icon and inspiring any who watch that there are extraordinary lives out there that deserve their place as innovators and trailblazers. Suzi Quatro is just that.